EXPEDITION TO “EL PLOMO”, THE SACRED MOUNTAIN OF THE INCAS, by Angel Molero Buenestado

 

On the way...

EL PLOMO

It is 5,30 am when my alarm rings. It is night and I have not slept well, particularly by the excitement of imagining what adventure is waiting next three days.

Since I visited Santiago de Chile, a lot of years ago, I had wished to climb that mountain which is seen from any corner of the city.

Here it is called “Cerro El Plomo”, and is 5.424m above sea level. It was one of the sacred mountains of the Incas.

Now I am going to be able to attempt to climb it. At 6,30 am I meet with the rest of the group. We don’t know each other but it doesn’t matter. We know that if we want to be successful to get the summit, we will have to help each other.

We have to drive two hours by car to arrive to the Andes mountains and start the expedition. 

We leave our cars, and the mules are already waiting for us to take the heavy material. Our first day will be a demanding hike of 9 hours with hard ascensions and very nice landscapes, always gaining height to arrive to the camp base at 4.100 m.               

After  setting up the camp and eating something hot food, we go to sleep each in its tent, thinking what things we will find next day.

We wake up at 3 am to have breakfast, preparing our backpack and starting immediately the attack on “El Plomo” summit.

It is 4 am, it is dark night and extremely cold but we begin to climb, we have at least 8 hours to the summit and 5 more hours to come back.

We can see a row of lights moving, which are other expeditions starting the climbing. 

Minutes pass and breathing speeds up, unintentionally our steps are slower. We are at 4.600 m high and here is the first milestone, the Agostini’s refuge.

It has been over three hours and first lights from the sunrise appear. Now it is still colder. 

It is 10 am and we receive the first rays of the sun in our face. We spend 6 hours climbing and we are at 5.100 m in a place called “La Pirca del Indio” where a lot of years ago an Inca mummified child was found. We smile and think, if we have managed to get here, we can get to the summit.  

After a brief break, we decide to continue. We almost see the summit but we still have to climb more than 300 meters vertically with 40% less oxygen. We put on the crampons in order to cruise the Ive Glaciar and go ahead to the summit.

          

At 12,30 pm we reach the mountaintop!!!!! It is indescribable the feeling that I have, so much time waiting for this moment and finally here I am.

Only a few minutes to behold the show, taking photos and beginning the down being very careful because, as the guide told us,  most accidents occur when people return from the mountain top.

It is 17,30 h and finally we arrive to the base camp when the sky is becoming dark. After 13,30 hours, we are physically destroyed and my tent looks like a five stars room in the best hotel to me.

I just want to be snug in my sleeping bag and, remembering with great satisfaction each minute today. I smile and think: Thanks to life    

  

By.. Angel Molero Buenestado

February 2021